Ethnosocial Space in the East Slavic Community on the Don and Kuban in the 1920s and 1930s: Metamorphoses of transformation and peculiarities of Ethnic identity representation

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the phenomenon of ethnic identity in the context of the processes of national construction in the Don and Kuban in the 1920s and 1930s. It examines the dynamics of the development of ethnic self-identification in the East Slavic environment, taking into account the Cossack and peasant factors, as part of the overcoming of class divisions and the Soviet policy of «facing the Cossacks» and «facing the countryside.» Based on modern achievements in historiography, as well as previously unknown documents from central and regional archival institutions (GARF, RGASPI, GARO and TsDNIRO), the article reconstructs the formation and representation of ethnic identity among the East Slavic community in the Don and Kuban regions, as well as its specific features, changes, and nature. Special attention is given to the policy of Ukrainization as a mechanism for overcoming class identity and fostering national self-identification. The Ukrainization and the subsequent policy of “Russification” in the Don and Kuban regions are not considered in isolation, but rather in the context of the national construction policy of the East Slavic majority, a significant portion of which did not have a stable ethnic identity by the early 1920s. The article concludes that the majority of the population changed their ethnic self-identification depending on the current circumstances, leading to the historical phenomenon of “floating” or “fluid” identity in the region. It was not until the 1930s, after the curtailment of Ukrainization, that a significant portion of the East Slavic population in the Don and Kuban regions finally chose Russian ethnic identity, which was strengthened by the establishment of a unified educational system and urbanization processes.